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Epidemiology of Henipavirus Disease in Humans

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Henipavirus

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 359))

Abstract

All seven recognized human cases of Hendra virus (HeV) infection have occurred in Queensland, Australia. Recognized human infections have all resulted from a HeV infected horse that was unusually efficient in transmitting the virus and a person with a high exposure to infectious secretions. In the large outbreak in Malaysia where Nipah virus (NiV) was first identified, most human infections resulted from close contact with NiV infected pigs. Outbreak investigations in Bangladesh have identified drinking raw date palm sap as the most common pathway of NiV transmission from Pteropus bats to people, but person-to-person transmission of NiV has been repeatedly identified in Bangladesh and India. Although henipaviruses are not easily transmitted to people, these newly recognized, high mortality agents warrant continued scientific attention.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Jahangir Hossain who coordinated Nipah outbreak investigations in Bangladesh from 2001 to 2011, and Sonia Hegde who analyzed the data and drafted Fig. 2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Stanford University, The Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building 473 Via Ortega, Room 185, MC 4020, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Stephen P. Luby

  2. Centre for Communicable Diseases icddr,b, GPO Box 128, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Stephen P. Luby & Emily S. Gurley

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  1. Stephen P. Luby
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  2. Emily S. Gurley
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Correspondence to Stephen P. Luby .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Dept. of Microbiol., Immunol., Mol. Gen., David Geffen School of Medicine, Charles E. Young Drive East 615, Los Angeles, 90095-1489, California, USA

    Benhur Lee

  2. MS-C-22, 1600 Clifton Road, Atlanta, 30329, Georgia, USA

    Paul A. Rota

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Luby, S.P., Gurley, E.S. (2012). Epidemiology of Henipavirus Disease in Humans. In: Lee, B., Rota, P. (eds) Henipavirus. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 359. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/82_2012_207

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